This is my life. My thoughts, my feelings, and the things I spend my time doing and loving. Take your time, but not too much of it--it's far too valuable. Most of all, enjoy the adventure!

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Red Pine Trail with the grandkids

Nothing gives me more joy than spending time in the outdoors with those I love, and my grandkids are some of the finest reasons for being out there. I love being able to share the outdoors experience with them. My love of the outdoors is one of the things I'd really like to pass on to all my children and grandchildren.

Jude getting ready to go.

Yesterday, my son Ben and I took his kids and three of my other four grandkids up the Red Pine Trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was great! Ben packed little Jude on his back, and eventually, ended up carrying Mimi for significant portions of the trail. A couple of the other kids were getting tired and the breaks just weren't cutting it for getting them rejuvenated (and at least one of them needed to go potty really bad and couldn't be talked into doing it in the woods), so we ended up turning back before making it to the lake, but we still had a lot of fun.

Early on in the hike. The kids were loving it.

We began hiking right at 9:00 and decided after a few minutes that we'd need to probably stop at around 11:30 to head back. It was a little cool at first and at least one of the kids put on her jacket. It's a shady trail for the most part, which is great on a hot summer day. The kids were enamored with the ground squirrels (potguts), chipmunks, and butterflies that were in profusion.

These little critters were everywhere.

Not as many wildflowers as Albion Basin maybe, but there is beauty everywhere you look.

After about a mile and a half, a guy passed us and said that we only had two miles left to the lake and I knew that we weren't going to make it. About a quarter mile later, I took Taggart and Gillian up the trail to look for a good place to eat lunch, while the others waited, but we weren't going to find that either, at least not in a short enough distance for those who were too tired to continue.

White Pine Creek, where we ate lunch.

We decided to go back down and eat by White Pine Creek that we had crossed about a half mile previously. All the kids had a good time hanging around the rocks and playing near the stream. I would do it again in a heartbeat.